otel, Temiskaming, and was garbed as if for rough travel, in coat
and skirt of heather-brown cloth, faced with brown leather, with a
brown hat on her head, and brown boots on her feet which reached
well above the ankle. Indeed her attire was so trim, and so
exceedingly suitable for rough work, that everyone at the first
glance decided she must be English.

"I fancy you would not care to wear the same coat always, nor yet
to wag the same tail," laughed her father, a genial-looking man of
fifty, who was dressed with equal fitness for rough travel, and was
just now intent on hurrying his daughter to the lake boat, which
was getting up steam at a little distance.

"Like it or not, I expect it is what I shall be reduced to by the
end of the summer," laughed Mary Selincourt, as she watched the
various bags and bundles being piled on to a barrow by the hotel
porter.

"Well, look your last on civilization and come along, for that boat
won't wait much longer," said Mr. Selincourt, adding with a laugh:
"unless indeed you are beginning to repent, in which case it is not
too late to change your mind and go back to Miss Griffith."

"Thank you! I never change my mind unless it is about the weather,
and I wouldn't turn back on this journey on any account whatever."

"Not if I turned back myself?" he enquired, as they went on board
the boat.

"No; unless, of course, you were ill, in which case, I suppose, my
sense of duty would oblige me to stop, even while my inclination
was dragging me, with both hands, as near to the North Pole as a
woman may hope to get," she said, with a nervous catching of her
breath which showed some agitation behind.

"But James Bay isn't the North Pole," objected Mr. Selincourt.

"It is nearer though than this, I suppose. And this is better than
Montreal," she answered, then turned to talk to a gentleman who had
come on board before them, and was bound for a fishing camp higher
up the lake.

Lake Temiskaming is thirty miles long, and they reached its end in
the evening. But, as Mr. Selincourt had made arrangements to keep
the boat for use as a floating hotel until the next morning, their
first night in the wilds was a very comfortable one.

At dawn next morning everyone was astir. Three river boats were
landed; these were made light enough for portage work, and strong
enough for weight carrying. With them were landed some men engaged
at a point farther down the lake, who had undertaken to wo